Barclays’ £10m bid to beat digital fraud

BARCLAYS CUSTOMERS will be given greater controls over how their cards are used as the bank declares a new fightback on fraud.

The bank is launching a new £10m advertising campaign alerting people to the risk of fraud in the digital age. Its advertising will include information targeted towards younger people and those living in urban areas – who could be particularly at risk. Barclays said research has shown that younger people aged 25 to 34 are twice as likely to be victims of online fraud than older generations.

The bank said customers using its mobile banking app would now be able to instantly turn off and on the functions that allow their card to be used to make remote purchases – which includes the ability to use the card to make online, in-app, mail order and telephone purchases. They will also be able to set their own daily cash machine withdrawal limits.

If a fraudster gains access to someone’s card details, they will often use them to go on a spending spree online.

Anyone whose card has been lost or stolen, or who suspects their card has been fraudulently used, should report it to their card company immediately. They can also contact Action Fraud.

Ashok Vaswani, chief executive of Barclays UK, said: “As a society, our confidence in using digital technology to shop, pay our bills and connect with others has grown faster than our knowledge of how to do so safely.

“This has created a ‘digital safety gap’ which is being exploited by criminals.”